Tooth-regulator.



No.f,72l,655. A PATENTED MAR. 3, 1903. E. H. ANGLE. A

TOOTH IIRBGULATOR.

APPLVIoATIoN HLED SEPT. 9. 190;.

N0 MODEL.

gwn/bot v Edward H. Angle UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'EDWARD ANGLE', on sT. Louis, MrssoURi. i

TooTH-R'Ec u-LATQR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 721,655, dated 'March 3, 1903. A Application iiled September 9,1991. Serial No. 74,763; (No model.) v d To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LEDWARD H. ANGLE, a

I citizenof the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Tooth-Regulators,of which the following is such a full, clear, and exact description y as will enable any one skilled in the art to essary to press back the teeth is wholly or partly obtained by means of an external retracting-bar attached at its .ends by elastic means to a head-gear worn by the patient it is not intended that the head-gear and external bar should be constantly worn; but the same are as a rule laid asideduring agreater portion or the whole of the day, and during the time that the teethare released from the pressure thus exerted upon them theyare subjected to a retaining-pressure by means of small rubber ligatures or other elastic means attached atone end to the anchor-teeth and at the other end to the retracting and retaining arch surroundingV theA teeth tobe moved and holding the same in position. This attachment to the surrounding arch vhas heretoforebeen accomplished by passing through `the rubber loop composing the elastic retaining-ligature a piece of iioss-silk-or a string of other suitable material and tying the sanne in advance of a small collar securely fastened upon the arch in the proper position. Such a means is shown and described in my United States Patent No. 415,829., issued to me November V26, 1889. annoyance is experienced by the breaking of this attaching means during the time that the head-gear and .its attached bar are laid aside. Such breakage may occur from a variety of reasons. For instance, the floss-silk present invention.

In practice considerable' is vfrequently bitten through by the patient or slips back over the retaining-collar, and

whensuch` breakage orslipping occurs itisy unless promptly repaired a serious matter, since theteeth immediately begin to move back into their former positions, thus causing considerabley pain to the patient when pressure is again applied,-delaying the regulating operation, and giving rise to injurious irritation at the roots of the teeth. .I have obviated these and several otherserions'disadvantages byr means of the construction shown and describedbelow.

In the drawings, in which like characters ferent views,iFigure 1 is a side view'of a toothof reference refer to similar parts in the diff regulating apparatus embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a top viewof the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, including also the eX- ternal retracting-.bar mentioned above.

In the iigures,l0 represents clamping-bands adapted to be fastenedto the anchor-teeth of the upper jaw in the'usu'al manner, one of these bands beingshown in Fig. 2, 'ffor the sake of elearness,f-as' partly broken away. Soldered to theeXterior vof the bands 10 are the tubes 11, in which the screw-threaded ends of the arch 1'2 a're' adapted to freely reciprocate. This arch lsurrounds the dental arch in the usual manner. 13 represents theM external retracting-bar, the ends of which are broken away, but which is adapted'to be fastened at its ends by means of elastic connections to the head-gear customarily Worn*l 'in such eases, and which forms no part of the bar 13 carries the socketed projection 14, adapted to engage with the ball 15, carried by the arch'12, to forma ball-and-socket joint,`

such as described inmyI patent mentioned above.

18 represents clamping-bands adaptedto` At as middle'part ,this

be fastened to the anchor-teeth of' the lowerl To these bands are fastened theres'istance-tubes 19, through Which pass the ends of the expansion-arch 21, which is adaptedto surround externally the teeth of "the lower" jaw. The ends of this eXpansion-archZl are f screw `threaded, as shown, and carry upon themin advance of the tubes 19 the nuts22, which by proper rotationwill cause the eX- Ioo' r te.

pansion-arch to advance, carrying with it those teeth of the lower jaw which have been suitably attached to it.

In practice it is frequently desired that, in addition to retracting the teeth of the upper jaw, the teeth of the lower jaw should be moved forward, thus elongating the lower dental arch. Besides the rotation of the nuts 22 above described the lower dental arch may also be carried forward by the same force which serves to retain in position and partly to retract the teeth of the upper jaw when the exterior means for retracting the same are laid aside. This is done by anchoring the rear end of the retaining elastic ligature to the anchor-teeth of the lower jaw', thus causing the ligature to exert a retaining and retracting force upon the teeth of the upper jaw and a forward pressure upon the teeth ofthe lower jaw. In the drawings I have shown the following means for accomplishing this form of what is known as reciprocal anchoragez 24 represents an internally screw-threaded collar secured to the arch 12 surrounding the teeth of the upper jaw by being screwed up over the screw-threaded end of said arch to the desired position. Projecting downward from this collar 24 is a spur in the form of a forwardly-opening hook 25. The elastic retaining-ligature 2G is first passed over the tube 19, carried by the clamping-band 18, secured to one of the lower anchor-teeth, and is then stretched and passed over the hook 25, thus securely fastening the ligature to the upper arch and exerting upon that arch the desired retracting and retaining force and at the same time exerting a forward force upon the lower arch, such as is desired. It will also be observed that such a form of attachment for the ligature 26 besides being very secure is easily made, and if the band 2b' should break for any cause another band may be immediately placed in position by the patient hy first being carried over the tubel) and then stretched over the hook 25 and the retaining force thus restored to the upper arch without delay and without the necessity of any assistance whatever. Such a form of attachment is also inconspicuous and from its downward position is not liable to irritate the mouth of the wearer. This is of particular importance in View of the fact that these parts of the apparatus are intended to be constantly worn by the patient. I have found it to be the better practice to attach the collar 24 and its hook 25 to the arch by the screw-threaded means above described for the reason that the arch having screw-threaded ends or sides has become a standard piece of apparatus for other purposes in this art, and for the further reasons that when so attached the hook is easily adjustable to any desired position on the arch and does not involve in its attachment soldering or other operations diflicult to perform without drawing the temper of the arch.

It will be noticed that in Fig. 2 I have shown the upper arch 12 as considerably larger than the lower arch 21. This proportion is of course not true in practice, but has been used here for clearness and simplicity of illustration. In actual practice the arches are more nearly the same in size and are, especially at their bases, more nearly superposed one above the other.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. As'an improved article of manufacture, a retainingarch provided with hook-like projections extending downwardly and in line with the same, to thereby lie alongsidethe exterior of the teeth and adapted to receive the ends of the elastic ligatures.

2. In a tooth-regulating mechanism, a l'etracting and retaining arch surrounding the teeth of one of the jaws, a projecting spur upon said arch, and an elastic retracting and retaining means attached at its forward end to said spur and at its rear end to one of the anchor-teeth of the other jaw.

3. In a tooth-regulating mechanism, a retaining-arch having screw-threaded ends, a collar adapted to be screwed upon one of said ends,'and a projecting spur held in position upon said arch by said collar for attaching said arch to the anchor-tooth by an elastic re-A ED WARD H. ANGLE.

Witnesses:

JAMES I-I. BnYsoN, .IEssIn R. WATKINS. 

